Small choral ensembles to present fall concerts

NORTH NEWTON, KAN. – The 2010-11 incarnations of Bethel College’s small choral groups, the Men’s Ensemble and the Women’s Chorus, will present their fall concerts Sunday, Nov. 7.

The men perform at 2 p.m. and the women at 4 p.m. in the Administration Building chapel. Both concerts are free and open to the public.

This year’s Women’s Chorus has seen almost a complete change in personnel, while the Men’s Ensemble is largely the same with the addition of first-time freshmen.

The concerts will include music that director William Eash believes accent the best of each group.

“I choose music that I think is accessible to the choirs and fun to sing for them,” Eash said, “and I always try to choose a wide variety of music.

“The majority of the music for the men’s group is a cappella and is really accessible to the capabilities of this particular group,” he added.

“The Women’s Chorus music moves between three- and four-part singing. In some cases, there will be some five-part singing,” he continued. “The Women’s Chorus music is more harmonically complex – in that ensemble are some singers who have had substantial amount of singing experience and come from very fine core programs across the state of Kansas.”

The Men’s Ensemble program will include: “Deeper, Deeper” by Charles Price Jones; “Hark, I Hear the Harps Eternal” and “I Shall Not Be Moved,” arranged by Alice Parker; “Climbin’ up the Mountain,” arranged by William Henry Smith; “Hush! Somebody’s Callin’ My Name,” arranged by Brazeal Dennard; and “Beautiful Savior,” arranged by F. Melius Christiansen and Kurt Wycisk.

The Women’s Chorus program will include: “Music Spread Thy Voice Around” by Georg Frederic Handel; “She Walks in Beauty” by David Childs; “Fire, Fire My Heart” by Thomas Morley; “When I Think of You” by Laura Farnell; and “Oh no John!,” arranged by Robert Latham. Rich Toevs is the accompanist.

Upcoming performances by the Bethel College Men’s Ensemble and Bethel College Women’s Chorus programs this semester will be the joint Christmas Candlelight service with the Newton Mid-Kansas Symphony Orchestra on the Bethel campus Dec. 7.

Bethel College is the only private, liberal arts college in Kansas listed in the 2010-11 Forbes.com analysis of top colleges and universities in the United States and is in the first tier in its category in the U.S. News & World Report annual ranking of “America’s Top Colleges” for 2011. The four-year liberal arts college is affiliated with Mennonite Church USA. For more information, see www.bethelks.edu.

Back to News NORTH NEWTON, KAN. – The 2010-11 incarnations of Bethel College’s small choral groups, the Men’s Ensemble and the Women’s Chorus, will present their fall concerts Sunday, Nov. 7. The men perform at 2 p.m. and the women at 4 p.m. in the Administration …